Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated across Cape Town last night with fire crackers being (legally) set off at various locations around the city. It seems however that one reveller may have taken things a bit too far…
Speculation abounds that a rogue firework started the Flamingo Vlei fire in the Tableview area, between SANCCOB and the Dolphin Beach Hotel, at around midnight last night. By this morning, the fire was still raging and causing quite a bit of traffic congestion on the R27 into town.
@liezelv heartbreaking fire on Flamingo Vlei. Traffic terrible before this point,clear after. Taken from @MyCiTiBus pic.twitter.com/BSjaE2trKe
— Susan van der Valk (@svdvalk_sa) November 6, 2015
Thank you @CityofCT for setting Flamingo Vlei alight ! Councillors Brenner and Grose get your firefighting gear on ! pic.twitter.com/wjtiZS6qmj — Dennis the Menace (@denver58) November 6, 2015
We’ve obviously got no proof at this stage that the fire was in fact started by a misplaced firework, but the fact that the fire is believed to have started just as Guy Fawkes celebrations were winding down seems a bit too coincidental.
Incidents like this do pose a very interesting question though:
@MovieCitric It’s a damned nuisance – Flamingo Vlei on fire tonight – reeds where birds 100’s of birds/ducks nest pic.twitter.com/HlM3289nCB
— Toni Stohen (@juschatagain) November 5, 2015
Thankfully, firefighters have been on the scene since midnight.
#Fires Firefighters have been working since midnight to douse a blaze in the Table View area. LI pic.twitter.com/M8AibZKUJy
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) November 6, 2015
Photography courtesy Jonathan Meyer and Twitter
